Facing a naive challenge from Old Harrovians, eager but green champions of the public schools Arthurian League, Old Meadonians made heavy weather of what should have been a routine win at Riverside Lands on Saturday.

Even with seven of last year’s squad, Meads were given a lesson in basic skills by the visitors who rightly took the lead after fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes later Harrovians betrayed their innocence by not playing the whistle and Quinn crossed to the far post for Glover to volley into the roof of the net from fifteen yards.

Meads gradually took control of the second half aided by the early departure of one of the visitors for a second booking but it was new boy, nineteen year old Billy Carty, fresh from a trial with Coventry City, who showed how it should be done. With twenty minutes to go he ghosted in from the left and calmly slotted Meads’ second. He then latched onto a blocked Tom Pearce shot to putt the visitors out of their misery, but not before one more player from each side left early for discarding their handbags in a brief encounter.